Parentheticals

This week was not as exciting as last week (phew!), but we had fun. We switched over to our summer schedule this week, since our scheduled school-ish things (nature group and weekly learning logs) ended last week.  This year, summer schedule involves listening to a early-elementary-school-level audiobook over breakfast (nature stories, stories from history, things like that), then getting ready for the day, then half an hour of review (math, reading, handwriting) before they head out to play. They also need to take a siesta in the hot part of the afternoon if they want to stay up in the evening when it's nice - not that it's hot yet, but we're starting the transition now, because it's always a grumpy week or two until we all adjust. We're listening to less-exciting upper elementary/middle school level audiobook over naps, in hopes that it won't keep people awake. The kids have gotten to play with their cousins a lot, and they will get to do more now that public ...

On Friday, the older kids had their final exam for Nature Kids Connect, our nature group. Rea and Sara ended up with a harder exam than most. The kids ages 8 and up were supposed to walk from one trailhead in Dimple Dell to another. The starting trailhead just happened to be the one we went to for our Forest Kindergarten for several years and the one where Mike likes to forage, so our girls were at an advantage at the beginning. They were supposed to identify about a dozen plants, and all but one of them were ones that we have foraged or pointed out (poison ivy), so they not only knew what they were, but exactly where to find them. They were even able to help some of the other kids. As they hiked, the kids got more and more strung out, and Rea and Sara were on their own in the part of the park they didn't know when the trail split and they took the wrong turn. They wandered around and realized that they were lost. That was scary, but Rea recognized one of the mountains. It was the ...

 This week, we were still not sick! Yosh! Monday we had our next-to-last Crowned with Virtue meeting of the year. The girls have enjoyed getting together, and Rea learned to love embroidery. The boys have had fun playing too. We don't know yet if it will continue next year. Mike was on call during a release this week, which meant he worked a lot more hours than usual. Luckily, his masters program has a one month break during May, so it worked out OK. He also found out about another 18 card game contest being put on by his publisher, Buttonshy Games. The challenge is to create a rules-light RPG. Our family loves playing rules-light RPGs, so the idea of creating one appealed to us a lot. When we started throwing around ideas at the dinner table, Alison suggested that an RPG based on the format of the best Disney movies would be awesome, but that you would have to sing, so that wouldn't work. Mike took that idea and decided to make the songs into cards, so that you could play with...

This week our Brown grandparent's came over and we spent a lot of time with them. Alison went out with all of the girls and ate lunch together, the kids spent time at the grandparents, Mike ate lunch with Grandpa Mike, and we all also went over to eat dinner with them. It was fun to see them again. Wednesday evening we went to the nearby nursery and bought some tomatoes, peppers, and onions. Hopefully they grow well. Rea also planned and executed a may-day celebration. It had a parade of children and a maypole dance. They also ate a picnic of lemonade, peppers, pears and cheese.  On Friday we were all well enough to go to nature group for the first time in a month. It was hot, and a few of the kids whined, but we stayed the whole time and the kids had fun. Mike did yard work and mowed the lawn with our new mechanical lawn mower. It works pretty good, but doesn't do well on tall grass or sticks. Saturday we transplanted two new trees: a cherry and an apple which we bought from t...

 We were all sick again this week. Well, one person would get sick, then we'd have a day or two when it seemed like it was over, then someone would get sick again. We are so tired of this. However, everyone has had it now, so hopefully we are actually done. Mike was the last person to get sick, and he got it on Saturday, which he had set aside to do his last final for this semester of his masters program (due Monday). He managed to get the final done and then slept for the rest of the day, which seems to have helped; he's not completely back to normal, but he's feeling better today. Grandma Sheila and Grandpa Mike dropped off some food Saturday, so we didn't have to cook. That was really nice of them and helped us a lot. We are all tired of staying home because we're trying not to pass this to anyone else. We're certainly hoping to be able to go to nature group next Friday. Mike and Alison both got their Covid shots last week. Alison's arm was extremely sore...